Steps to consider to start and grow a company. Basics are provided to help entrepreneurs. Examples may relate to Biotech, Pharma and Medical Device businesses, but the ideas apply to most technology fields.

Children are extremely creative and imaginative.They see many opportunities that adults tend
to overlook.Maybe it is because as we
become adults our tendency is to become more mature in our thinking and novel
ideas are considered as daydreams and unrealistic.Perhaps, we fear being ridiculed for ideas
that may be unique and creative.In school,
our educators aggressively drilled us in the facts and did not stress the
creative side.It is difficult to say
what happened from the kid stage to the adult stage and it was likely different
for everyone.

Kids often see things that adults miss.The photograph of a rock formation may not
look like much to you.The kids standing
in front of it thought it was the image of Mulan the lead character in a 1998
movie.Maybe you can start to get your
imagination back by looking for the character.Seeing alternatives to the normal and expected is a skill that needs further
development.You had a childlike
imagination once; maybe it is misplaced now.

Remember when you were a kid and received a present in a very
large box.Perhaps to many of you, the
large box became the focus of attention rather than the gift.The box could be a house, fort, tent,
hideout, private meeting place, or anything you wanted it to be.You let your mind determine the needs at the
time and the box took the shape of your imagination.

In building a room many years ago, a sibling managed to go to a
section of the room with some crayons.Clearly, no adult was around, so the child did what most any child would
do to the walls!The father returned home
and the wife apologized for the newly decorated walls.The parents asked the child what that was on
the wall.The child said a “RABBIT!”It did look like a rabbit and the parents just laughed and repainted the
wall.

Hard to imagine there was the potential for invention in that
incidence, but there was.Years later,
the father was in a university discussing a new technology with a
professor.The discussion came to a
point that a blackboard was required for drawing certain structures.The father turned to look for a board as the
professor handed him a marker.Not seeing
a place to draw the structures, he asked where the board is.The professor said “each of the walls.” The professor
had the walls constructed of erasable white board material.He said write any place you like, I did this
at home for my kids!They love it.

The father missed an identifiable problem present at the time of
the rabbit drawing because he was thinking too conservatively.Kids draw on walls and covering it with paint
is a natural solution.Making the walls
to be erasable was not normal at the time. The eventual solution was a creation
of someone else that invented something unique and interesting.

The following are few things you can do to enhance your creative
and innovative side. Maybe in time we
can improve our skills to be more creative and innovative.The following are steps that can apply to
your everyday life.

1.Do not
dismiss what you see: Too often, we see things that are not normal
to us, like drawing on the walls.It is
a problem needing a different type of solutions.We ignore the alternatives or fail to
consider the issue a problem because it is too easy to repaint or wash the wall.Many issues have creative or innovative
solutions if we just think about them.The new solutions do not need apply to the triggering event; the
solution can be an idea for the future.

2.Identify problems:Inventions and creative actions occur many
times when trying to solve a real problem.After all, solving a problem for you may solve a related problem for
others too.Seeing the problem is an
important step.It is hard to fix
something that is not broken!

3.Study the
issues:Every problem has issues
associated with it.The background info
may be something you can learn from books.Maybe you can learn about the issues from speaking with others.Alternatively, you can take the issues apart
and assemble them again considering changes that may be improvements.Understanding the problem and potential
solutions are the next step.

4.Test-drive
the solutions:Recognizing a problem and
studying the issues often leads to alternatives that solve the problem.Testing those solutions is an active
component to a final resolution.In
testing, you may see places for improvement and modification.

5.Finalize
solutions:Testing and modification lead
to the final solution.Perhaps it is something
you will find useful for a new business.Maybe it is something with partnership potential leading to a developed commercialized
product.Alternatively, it may be a
simple improvement in how you conduct your life and have little commercial application.
After all, many inventions never become commercial products.

The goal could be to keep your mind active and creative.Improve that creative and innovative side you
had as a child.Why miss the joy of
creating something novel that others failed to see?You may find it fun and exciting, or even
make money on the new idea.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Many years ago, a one of my relatives wore an older version of hearing
aids.The device reminds one of the
pocket radios with wired earphones.This person had been married for more than 60 years.He was fun to be around and always had a
great sense of humor.His wife would
often start those discussions that seemed to be more like nagging.At this point, you would see him reach in his
pocket and pull out the receiver for the hearing aid and TURN IT OFF!In an instant there was no more nagging, even
though the discussion on her end continued.The smile on his face said it all!

The funny thing is that many managers have a way of tuning out
without turning off the volume.They
hear sounds but do not listen. If they hear the words, they may fail to
understand.Even if they understood and
heard the issues, they failed to communicate with the team. Failure to listen to your team, understand
their issues, and engage in meaningful dialogue has potential to enhance potential
problems.A few reasons for this are below:

1.Lack of
trust:Your team needs to
believe in your abilities and understand the motives.The goal is the alignment of ideas,
directions, and activities.Trust is an
important part of the process.Your team
must feel you are worth following and not leading them over a cliff.You cannot lead if they will not follow: i.e., all you can do is dictate.They will never follow someone they fail to
trust.Why should they ever follow you
if you never listen to them, communicate with them, and consider their ideas?

2.Poor
commutation: Communication with the
team must be clear and concise.They
must understand the goals of any project.A team that understands the programs and directions may see things you
miss. Poor communications and lack of trust among the team, ensures they will NEVER
provide any ideas or bring up potential issues.

3.Error
creation:Missing major flaws or
errors in design of programs or products can be deadly.Customers fail to return if the products do
not work properly the first time or if they are overly complex.Discussions with your team may identify
flaws or logic problems.It is critical
to your business to identify these issues early and fix them before it is too
late.

4.Milestone
misses or cost overruns:You
spend lots of time raising money to build the business.You promise to meet certain milestones on
time and within budget.Does your team
agree with these?Returning to investors
to say you missed these key objectives is a terrible discussion to have and the
reasons generally do not matter! Your team’s involvement and concurrence with
these parameters ensure they will do everything they can to meet the
goals.They know the company must look
good to the investors.

5.All alone:This is an important point, there is no I in
TEAM.You may not understand the true
problems because your experience in the area is limited.Ignoring your limited understanding and not
engaging the team so you can learn is a recipe for failure.Failure to communicate and develop trust will
leave you all alone.Some people may
like being alone for a while, but you may become one of the real reasons for
failure of the business.Try explaining that
away with your investors!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Fear of losing a job makes people less than honest in the
workplace.This is especially true when
it comes to providing negative feedback to or following directives from the
boss.Bosses can be difficult at times.Informing them that they are wrong may rub
them the wrong way: especially when it happens repeatedly or in front of
others.The question employees must
examine is whether they are giving their best performance at work when they are
not alerting the boss there may be a better way or of impending mistakes.

Many people are terrified just speaking to the boss.Bosses are people and they make mistakes just
as anyone can.Developing a relationship
with the boss can be more than agreeing with everything that said or requested.Clearly, you must do what the boss requires
as long as it is legal and ethical.However, there are ways you can approach the boss and provide more value
to the workplace.

Keep in mind that the boss usually wants to do the best possible
for the business.They do not want big
errors that cost time and money for the company.Bosses look for promotions just like the
employees and they the same desires as anyone else.The following are some ideas on being more
than a YES person, when you should be saying something else.

1.Develop a
relationship:Learning to interact with
the boss without fear requires development of a relationship of some type. It
is not necessary to be best friends, but you do need to be able to speak
frankly, when needed.Learn to recognize
what the boss needs and when needed.Make
an effort to help meet timings and milestones.Understand the job and determine what it takes to be an excellent
performer.Bosses tend to listen to
those that are their best performers.

2.Improve on
ideas:Knowing the business enhances
your chances of seeing ways to make improvements. Bosses like ideas that make things better,
cheaper, or bring more harmony to the work environment. Such ideas tend to be better accepted.When the boss provides something less than a
perfect plan, you may see ways to make the plan better.Improving on the boss’s idea may be a way to
improve on your easiness of speaking frankly.Yes, the boss likely will get the credit, but who gets credit should not
be your goal.

3.Do it in
private:It is generally better to
approach someone in private to discuss a way to enhance or improve a situation
at work.No one likes being corrected in
public, especially the boss.Offering
the suggested changes in private may allow you to expand and explain the
situation and make it clear.In fact,
make an appointment or determine ask how much time the boss has before
starting.You want to make your point
but not in a rushed manner.You want the
boss to listen and focus on what you are saying with as few interruptions as
possible.

4.Do it
politely:The boss is the
boss.Being argumentative or ugly rarely
works and just causes people to tune out.Show respect for the person in charge and demonstrate that you offer the
suggestions to improve on the business or prevent a serious issue down the
road.Present your case carefully and in
a well thought out manner.Limit the
number of visits to those that you believe are most important to alter a path
or decision.Constant nagging tends to
be a turnoff!

5.In the
end, do what the boss says:You have
offered all the arguments and suggested changes.You have done so in a professional
manner.You may not understand the rationale,
but you do need to do what the boss finally decides. This helps the person understand that they can
count on you in different situations.In
time, it may help the boss become more attentive to what you offer.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

I do not know anyone that ever dreamed of going to work to make
minimum wage.Perhaps there are people
that dram of minimum wage jobs and I hope they achieve it.On the other hand, entrepreneurs tend to have
significantly larger dreams.They see
their objective in life as a way of changing the world, creating a huge
business empire, having their own business, or many other things important to
them.Those dreams enhance the drive for
the entrepreneurs to achieve something great.

Your dreams may take you in directions different than you ever
anticipate.Wanting to be a famous
scientist working in a university as a full professor may be something a child
sees in the future.Maybe they want to
cure diseases of the world by inventing the cures.For others, being an educator and teaching
children could be a lifetime dream. Dreams are about doing you find exciting
not simply about being famous or rich.Early
in life, you may desire to create new things and be a scientist.Later, you become excited about
business.One day the two dreams come
together and you create a company based on some new technology: i.e., dreams change and can morph into
new dreams.

Excitement and desire are what drive people to achieve their
dreams.This is the reason in a recent
article, “4 Steps to overcome inertia and build a business” the first objective in
overcoming inertia is to create something exciting to you.People have all kinds of dreams but you never
see them striving to achieve dreams of failure: that is not exciting.It is
hard to build up the energy to go after a task you know will end badly.People want to create or do things they find
exciting and fulfilling.This is what
entrepreneurs do.They find that overlap
of a dream with reality and move forward to do something greater.

Search the internet for “you
die if you stop dreaming.”Many
articles on entrepreneurs and their dreams cover this topic.A recent Facebook article from a friend
described a woman in her late eighties having returned to college to finish her
degree.She became friends of many of
the classmates and finished her degree.She achieved her lifelong dream and died shortly after.Death does not have to occur by loss of
life.You tend to lose all that energy
and drive when you are not struggling to achieve something new and exciting to
you.It may be ok for some to have daily
unchanging routines and have no desire to do anything else, but for an
entrepreneur is horrifying.They cannot
imagine living life that way.

One saying you may have heard growing up is, “You can do anything you really want to do.”For the most part this is true.The flipside is “You never achieve things you do not attempt.”Entrepreneurs experience failure for many
reasons.They grieve
and many recover
to try again.When the entrepreneur
stops dreaming, they kind of die inside and lose some of that zeal for life.For this reason, it may be better that you
never stop dreaming.You may have
guessed the two words of advice already.In case you did not, the two words are “DREAM BIG!”

Monday, February 11, 2013

Repurposing has a long history in business.If something does not work for one area,
maybe it will work for a different one.Take our feline friend in the photo.It looks like a playful pet, but it was repurposed to be a KILLER.Yes, it lives in a vineyard and it eliminates
animals that destroy grapes.The farmers
grow roses near vineyards to detect insects or diseases before they can kill
the grapevines.Certain types of waste
create fertilizer and make the plants grow better.Repurposing takes place when someone becomes
creative and finds a new use for something.

In the drug industry, patents expire allowing the products to
become generic.Many inventors will
explore the use of these off-patent products for new indications attempting to
obtain patents for the repurposed drugs.Equipment once used for manufacturing or research supports new and different
areas.People move to accept new tasks to
support the new products since they no longer needed for the old jobs.

Repurposing takes place in businesses and with business
names.Sometimes, a tired product or
business that failed for one reason or another is adopted and rebuilt.The owners of Twinkies are working to find a
buyer.The name will likely stay the
same because of the wide recognition of the product.Name recognition is very important to
products. Repurposing of names takes
place in the investment banking area where new owners acquire the name and attempt
to rebuild the business.You may not
even recognize that the sale took place, but you may recognize the name now
owned by new owners.

In a recent discussion with an investment banker, I learned of an
acquisition of big name banking group.The management was changed and new people recruited.The leader of the team developed a strategy
to work with certain companies that other firms had failed to help.Extensive planning resulted in new successes
that benefited the bank and the companies.The name of the bank remained the same, but everything in that business
is different!A new company was
constructed using the repurposed name.

When is building a business, a valid strategy is to acquire a
recognized business or product and re-invigorate the product or business.You need creativity and management skills to
carry out the activity and be successful.The creativity helps you determine the reason for the failure and create
a unique and new strategy to make it a success.The management skills allow you to bring all the pieces together and
direct them toward a target of success.

Repurposing comes in different forms.Have you ever heard of WD-40?This is a product originally developed by Rocket Chemical Company and first
used by Corvair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas Missile.The founder started putting the product in
cans as an aerosol thinking home uses may be possible.It took
from 1953, when first invented, to 1961 for the first truckload to be
shipped.A company was born from
creativity, innovation, and repurposing!

When you think of your business, keep an open mind. You may find
that a different direction may take your business from OK to FANTASTIC.Your goal is success, not sticking with your
original tired or poor performing product.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

An entrepreneur with a great idea and drive is unstoppable.They will aggressively pursue the development
of the business in every way possible.Some of the entrepreneurs have even done it before which emboldens them
to pursue the next company.Their drive
and great idea do not provide the expertise on running the business.For this reason, some companies seem to
languish from the founder’s lack of ability and knowledge.Sure, they can prepare business plans and
slide shows.They may even know how to
raise capital.All the pieces to create
and launch the company are there, but sometimes the management ability is
missing.A business has many moving
parts and the CEO must keep them operating well-oiled manner. Some CEOs are
simply missing the needed management skills for that business. They also retain an attitude that “this is my
company and I will run it.”This
attitude can get in the way of developing the best operating business and
making money for the shareholders.

Founders can miss the signs that they are out of their
element.The signs exist, but most
people are unwilling to point them out for fear of making the CEO mad.The CEO misses them because of feelings of
ownership and allowing ego to take charge.It is a difficult task to deal with the issue. Ultimately is the Board
of Directors and/or the investors that are stuck with the horrible task. They
must find a way to bolster the skill set of the CEO, supplement the skills by
additions to the company, or find a new leader.Resistance of the CEO to the forced actions can create conflict, which
further complicates the task.

Your best way to ensure you are not the CEO that causes such
concerns is to develop an awareness of attitudes and encourage feedback.Remember, “You do not know what you do not
know.”You can also try a few of
the following:

Obtain feedback:Taking negative feedback and finding steps to
improve can take you a long way.The key
is to find a way to convince people to provide the information without fear of
retribution.You will not know what to
change without the info!Once you have
the data, develop a plan of personal improvement.

Supplement
management:No one is perfect at
everything.You may have skills that
cover part of the company but not in the other.Find a way to assess your strengths and weakness.Consider supplementing them with hires.One example is a CEO with great fund raising
and finance skills and no operational skills.Consider finding a COO to run the day-to-day activity!Alternatively, picking team leaders for
different areas may help.

Board
members, mentors, and advisors: Trusted people willing to take time
to coach or supplement your skills can be a great way to improve.This requires having a listening relationship
with these individuals and taking the steps to try what they say.You may be able to adapt their ideas or
improve on them. Always try to develop your skills and move in an ever-improving
direction.

Plan for
departure:The last thing you want
is to kill the company due to your lacking skill set.You may never be able to adapt to the job
because the company outgrew you.This
actually happens to some people.The
best think you can do is to recognize it and work with the Board to find an
appropriate replacement.After all, your
duties are to the shareholders and to improving the company valuation.

Monday, February 4, 2013

“A Bridge Too Far” is the title of a book and a
movie filmed in 1977.The film and book
provide a 1944 account of the unsuccessful attempt of the Allied forces during
WWII to out-flank the German troops during Operation Market Garden.A difference of views on
the success of the mission exists, but the leader of the Allied forces on the
mission implied the mission was not a success.The mission failure was partly due to the inability to hold the Arnhem
road bridge.As rumor has it, one of the
generals suggested the effort was a bridge too far, meaning they went further
than rear-supporting infrastructure would support them.

Developing a business is like fighting a battle. It requires
development of appropriate infrastructure.The timings and meshing of all activities must support the drive
forward.Failure to meet a critical
milestone or initiate an important effort can dramatically affect progress. This is part of the reason that project planning is so critical to your business.

One excellent example of the critical role of project planning
comes in the development of drugs in the pharmaceutical industry.In
pharmaceutical development, project planning is ESSENTIAL.Clinical development can take more than 5
years with costs ranging from $20 - $500M. The FDA regulates all drugs and
their approvals. The FDA requires that submissions for approval include the
manufacturing data for commercial supply.This includes demonstration that the commercial supply works properly as
demonstrated by data collected in the final phases of drug development.

Manufacturing of a drug and scaling up the process can take
significant time.In some cases, the
timings for the scale-up are a few years.The matching of the manufacturing and clinical development timings are
essential if the company wants to incorporate the drug made by the scaled-up
process into the final phase of the clinical development: a necessity since the
data is ESSENTIAL to an approval by the FDA.

The marketing of a drug must be consistent with the FDA approved
claims for that drug.For claims to
match the marketing efforts, design of all clinical studies must support the
demonstration of the drug ability to perform as claimed.This means that all clinical study designs
lead to the demonstration that the data proves the claims are valid. Failure to match the data to the claims will
result in an inability to market the product in an appropriate manner.The whole business process in the
pharmaceutical area requires a serious match up of timings and development of
supporting infrastructure.Failure to plan
and properly support each activity can lead to delays, failed approvals, poor
marketing data, failed product launches, and more.

Similarly, technology companies must plan their efforts and ensure
the proper infrastructure is available to support development and marketing.There may be differences in regulatory
structures, manufacturing, and marketing, but the matching of each phase of the
business is essential to proper development.It is essential that as the leader and founder of your company that you
develop parallel efforts and overlay them to ensure a match of all phases leading
to the final product.Then develop
proper infrastructure and support to ensure their success.Otherwise, you risk going “A Bridge Too Far” and may fail to reach
your goals!